Forever Young
by Bugiardini
Summary: Elle Auditore wasn't used to having no friends. She was used to having people all aound. But this year things were different. No one wanted to know her, except for one person. Sirius/OC


**Forever Young**

**Chapter 1: The Bubblegum Accident **

I traced my fingers lazily around the carvings in the old oak tree; the deep engravings were covered in moss and barley noticeable from afar. It had been exactly a year since I had stood in this spot tracing the engravings, _Betty and Sam._ Who Betty and Sam were, I have no idea. The oak tree had stood in the centre of the backyard that my family and I lived at ever since I had lived there and long before. As a little girl, I had always imagined that I would one day get to crave my name into the tree. I imagined that I would get to be Betty and finally find my Sam.

"Elle?" came my mother's voice from inside the house. I turned to see my mother's head sticking out of the kitchen window along with her hand that was violently gesturing for me to come back inside.

I took one last glance at the old oak tree before going back into the house. I walked into the kitchen to see my mother carefully icing a large chocolate cake with the words, _Happy Birthday Clair_. She was currently working on the _e_.

'Really Elle, must you spend so much time outside with that tree?" Mum said as she leaned back to admire her icing skills.

"It's the last day of the summer holidays" I sighed, "If I want to spend time with my tree, I'll spend time with my tree"

Mum gave me a glare that she had perfect over the years that she had been a mother, before returning to work on the _e_.

"Your Father's coming home in ten minutes and Claire will be here in fifteen. She's bringing her new boyfriend, so be nice" she said looking up from the cake so she could look me in the eye as she mentioned Claire's new boyfriend.

"Where's Cassie?" I asked, ignoring the information concerning Claire's boyfriend and started moving slowly closer to the bowel of chocolate icing on the kitchen bench.

"She's upstairs wrapping Claire's gift"

"Claire's twenty-four Mum! She doesn't need presents and chocolate cake on her birthday anymore"

"I know you're upset about having to go back to school" Mum said, sighing as she turned around, "It's understandable after your breakup with John that you will be nervous about seeing him at school, but could you put a smile on when everyone's here?"

"No I won't Mum, you don't understand!" I countered, pulling my spoon out of the icing bowel and turning around, "Were being going out since third year, all his friends are my friends. Now that were broken up they won't want to hang out with me anymore. I have no friends!"

"That's not true, wasn't there that nice girl you use to invite over during the summer. Gosh, what was her name?"

"Summer"

"Yes, you use to invite her over during the summer"

"No, her name _was_ Summer"

"Oh, well what about her?"

"Our relationship ended when my relationship with John started, they moved in different crowds"

"You never know Elle, she just might still want to be friends" Mum said turning her attention back to the cake, "and your always gotten along with Cassie so well, maybe you could spend more time together at school"

"Mum" I said rolling my eyes "I am not hanging out with my younger sister!"

Just as my Mother had said, Dad had arrived ten minutes later from working at the café he owned and Claire arrived with her new boyfriend five minutes after that. Everyone sat down in the living room around the coffee table and ate a selection of baked goods that Mum had prepared.

I usually don't try to judge people on first impressions, but it was really hard to not judge Wade Harwood, Claire's boyfriend. I mean seriously, he looks at his face in the back of his spoon every ten seconds, vain much?

"Why is Claire dating this guy?" Cassie whispered, leaning slightly closer to me as we were sitting next to each other on the couch. No one else heard as my parents and Wade were engrossed in a conversation over the unstableness of the Ministry's Law Enforcement Department and Claire was carefully picking out the almonds from her white chocolate and almond muffin.

"I'm suspicious of there alleged love" I whispered back observing Claire and Wade.

"Girls!" Mum suddenly said, making Cassie and me jump and spin to face my mother's so very fake smile that she plastered on when we had important guests, "Why don't you go into the kitchen and get Claire's cake?"

My Mother never asks yes or no question. The answer she's looking for is yes and if you don't say it, there's hell to pay. So that's how I found myself in the kitchen with Cassie placing and lighting twenty-four individual candles around the large chocolate cake that I had seen my icing early that afternoon.

"This is such a bore!" Cassie said throwing a burnt out candle on to the kitchen table after a very stubborn candle refused to be lit, "why can't Mum come and do this, she'll have it done in like a second!"

"She just wants us out of the room so we won't do anything stupid in front of Wade" I said slowly observing Cassie over the cake I was slowly lighting as she rummaged through her pockets before triumphantly pulling out a small rectangle package.

"Want some bubblegum?" she asked as she took out a piece and put it in her mouth.

"I don't think that's such a good idea"

"Oh come on, will see who can blow the biggest bubble like we did when we were five!"

Bubblegum, one of my great childhoods loves and one of my mother's parenthood hates.

"Alright, but just one" I muttered grabbing the piece of bubblegum out of Cassie outstretched hand, "If Mum catches us, I'm blaming everything on you"

"Like you already don't"

I gave Cassie a glare before putting the gum into my mouth and chewing. Like it had always been when we were five, the gum that Cassie had brought was strawberry.

"Ok, I'll go first" Cassie said as viciously chewed before beginning to blow the bubble.

Cassie's bubble was nothing amazing; I had blown bigger bubbles when I was five. After about a minute of bubble blowing Cassie gave up with the concern of getting strawberry gum all over her face.

"My turn" I said, knowing full well that I could beat Cassie's bubble in thirty seconds flat. Cassie just rolled her eyes at me and continued to chew her gum.

When I was a little kid, I was considered the master of bubblegum in my neighborhood. No one could beat me when it came to blowing the biggest bubble with bubblegum and guess what, after ten years, nothing had changed. I could still beat Cassie hands down.

I was observing Cassie over the top of my pink bubble when I heard the kitchen door behind me open, I assumed that it was Dad or Claire because no way would Mum leave such an important guest alone with my Dad, who has apparently managed to scare of all Claire's previous boyfriends.

I spun around out of surprise and saw an incredibly fancy looking blazer pocket. That was till my bubblegum exploded all over it. That's right my bubblegum went all over Wades very expensive blazer pocket, and from the looks of it he wasn't too happy about it. But that wasn't even the worst part, it just so happened that my Mother came in after him and after seeing what I had done, she let out a very pained sound that sounded distinctly like my name.

"Elle!"

You would think that after the gum accident yesterday afternoon, I would be happy to see the back of my parents and get on the train to Hogwarts. You'd be wrong if you thought that because as I walked down the corridor of the train, peering into each compartment trying to find an empty one, I realized that I was heading into a year of silence, sitting alone at meals and awkward moments when people are partnered with me in class. I would really be surprised if I was still sane when summer comes around again.

_Bugiardini_


End file.
